This invention relates to a food package having a rigid leg member for displaying the front panel thereof.
Food packages, along with their obvious utilitarian purpose of allowing the food product therein to be shipped, must also "sell" the food product in the supermarket by providing attractive "facings" which are exposed to the potential consumer. Many irregular shaped packages, however, do not provide a proper facing. For example, an oblong or circular food package may not "stand up" and thus the supermarket customer cannot see the front panel of the food package which contains the graphics.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,090,615 and 5,234,159 provide a container/lid assembly which permits display of the front panel of the food package. However, there is not provided a sleeve which substantially surrounds the tray. This shortcoming limits the amount of facing surface available and so required labeling information (i.e., nutrition facts) must be placed on the front panel, thus detracting from the overall look of the front panel.
Commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/819,889, filed Mar. 18, 1997, discloses a food package including a tray and a sleeve. This food package, while providing an attractive facing, does not include means for allowing the package to "stand up" on a supermarket shelf.
What is needed, therefore, is a food package which provides an attractive facing that can be easily seen by supermarket shoppers.